The Oaks – 0, Cal Football – 1

Universities with a football team are fortunate in their ability to attain revenue from that football program; and it is not just the university but also the city that reaps these monetary benefits and shares in the financial gain.

Of course, not every university's football program brings in the same amount.  Division 1 schools generate much more revenue due to their larger fan, student-body, and alumni base; they get more coverage and more donations.  D1 sports programs, particularly football, help boost the local economy. What university wouldn't want this economic stimulus?

The same is true for UC Berkeley.  Jeff Tedford, the head coach of Cal’s Golden Bears, has a base salary of $1.8 million more per annum than the Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who heads one of the most renowned public universities in the world, arguably.  Tedford out-earns any other paid UC-employee, and let’s face it, the Bears, although they have promise and supporters aplenty, do not have the strongest program in D1 football right now.

What to make, then, of the tearing down of an oak grove for the building of a new varsity training center? Berkeley, widely known for its Free Speech Movement in the 1960s, for its efforts in sustainability, and its grassroots traditions, has gotten slightly more conservative than its infamous prior-self of the '60s, not to say that its tradition is any less appreciated, celebrated, or forgotten in any way. 

However, this hope to keep Berkeley’s “soul” alive brings up the contradictory issue regarding the chopping down of the coast live oaks.  Rallying in support of the oaks were the people of Berkeley, other environmental-activist organizations such as the Sierra Club, and many UCB students. 

It was shaping up to be a fight where Berkeley’s political activist past was pitted against its incredible athletic pride and competitive nature that is part of all D1 universities.

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